The Frontier Leader Show – AI Strategy, Leadership & Decision-Making for Senior Leaders

Connection Intelligence: Leading Across Generations and AI, with Jenny Ainsworth

When AI can outpace what you know, what's actually left for a leader to do? Jenny Ainsworth has a stark answer, and a useful one.   Jenny is a bestselling author and founder of the Connection Intelligence methodology. Before that, she was Disney's European training manager, with 20+ years working with leadership teams across sectors from finance to pharmaceuticals. Her new book Connection Intelligence [https://amzn.to/4djGYAB] lands in a workplace now juggling four generations and an AI tool for every task. In this conversation we get into: * Why leaders who define themselves by what they know are the most exposed when AI lands * What Connection Intelligence is, and why Jenny puts it in the middle of a Venn diagram rather than next to IQ, EQ and DQ * Jack Dorsey's Block cutting 4,000 management roles, and what quietly gets lost when you do that * A "start, stop, continue" question that builds psychological safety without making a song and dance of it * Using a one to ten confidence scale to surface where a team really is with AI, without anyone getting shamed * The three connections Jenny argues every employee needs in order to do their best work at work   The thread running throughout: tech and humanity aren't opposites. The leaders who get that will be in a very different place to the ones who don't. ⭐️ Make sure to grab a copy of Jenny's book today: "Connection Intelligence" by Jenny Ainsworth [https://amzn.to/4djGYAB]⭐️ Connect with Jenny: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyainsworth [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyainsworth] Website: https://jennyainsworth.com [https://jennyainsworth.com]   Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome to the Show! 01:43 Introduction to Jenny Ainsworth 03:04 The Evolution of Leadership and Connection Intelligence 05:27 Understanding Connection Intelligence 07:08 Generational Perspectives in the Workplace 09:59 Flexibility in Leadership Styles 12:52 AI's Impact on Leadership 16:55 Balancing Technology and Humanity in Leadership 18:11 Building Psychological Safety in Hybrid Teams 20:58 Building Psychological Safety in Teams 25:07 The Importance of Connection in the Workplace 28:49 Leveraging AI for Enhanced Productivity 31:54 Key Takeaways for Effective Leadership     Get your copy of the Multiply Method ✖️ It's a FREE roadmap walking you through how to multiply the capabilities of your people and your business with AI. www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap [http://www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap]   Connect with Martin: Websites: www.theaileaderlab.com [http://www.theaileaderlab.com] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley [http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley] Subscribe to The Frontier Leader Show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Leaders Aren't Ready for What AI Is Bringing, with Pierre Naggar

"Leaders are not ready for what AI is going to bring." That's how Pierre Naggar opens this conversation. And it lands hard.   Pierre Naggar is the founder of BrightPro and spent almost 30 years in digital marketing and advertising tech before moving into AI automation.   In this episode, we get into what's actually going on inside companies trying to adopt AI, and where it tends to come unstuck.   We cover: * Why most CEOs still hand AI to the CTO or the IT team, and what that quietly costs them * The case for a Chief AI Officer * AI readiness and data readiness, including projects Pierre walked away from because the data wasn't there yet * The cost trap when a prototype moves into production, and why model drift quietly eats your ROI * AI is coming for the jobs you should never have been doing in the first place   The important bit: AI adoption isn't transformation. Pilots and Copilot rollouts don't count for much until the operating model itself starts to shift.   If you're a senior leader trying to work out whether your AI activity is actually going somewhere, this one's worth a listen.   Connect with Pierre: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-naggar/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-naggar/] Website: https://www.brightpro.ai [https://www.brightpro.ai] Email: pierre.naggar@brightpro.ai [pierre.naggar@brightpro.ai]   Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to AI Leadership 01:46 Pierre Naggar's Background and Experience 02:34 The Birth of BrightPro and AI Opportunities 04:24 Personal Journey with AI Tools 08:21 Practical Implementation of AI in Organizations 13:40 The Role of Chief AI Officer 18:34 Governance and Accountability in AI Implementation 24:23 AI Adoption: The Current Landscape 30:28 Leadership and Organizational Readiness for AI 38:07 The Future of AI: Opportunities and Challenges 43:42 Outro   Book Referenced: The Profitable AI Advantage by Tobias Zwingmann [https://amzn.to/4wBRESM]   Get your copy of the Multiply Method ✖️ It's a FREE roadmap walking you through how to multiply the capabilities of your people and your business with AI. www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap [http://www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap]   Connect with Martin: Websites: www.theaileaderlab.com [http://www.theaileaderlab.com] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley [http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley]   Subscribe to The Frontier Leader Show wherever you listen to podcasts.

AI Agents in Business: Inside Bentley Lewis with Lewis Maleh

Most teams are using AI now. Nothing in the actual business has changed. If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. Lewis Maleh runs Bentley Lewis, a global executive search firm with team members in London, the US, Europe, Tokyo and Mumbai. He's one of the few founders I've spoken to who's moved past "the team uses ChatGPT" and built AI properly into how the firm operates. Which is a different conversation entirely. A few things you'll hear: ✅ Meet Nina, the AI agent on Lewis's team. ✅ What happens when you send your AI avatar to an interview ✅ How he is now building internal apps without writing a line of code, using voice-to-text and Claude ✅ The split in the recruitment market between AI-screened entry level and 100% sourced executive search ✅ How his team has learnt and grown together with technology I came away from this one thinking about the difference between having AI in your business and AI being in the business. They're not the same thing, and the gap between them is where most firms are stuck. Connect with Lewis: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmaleh/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmaleh/] X: https://x.com/lewismaleh?s=20 [https://x.com/lewismaleh?s=20] Website: https://bentleylewis.com [https://bentleylewis.com] "The Recruitment Show with Lewis Maleh" podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and YouTube: https://linktr.ee/BentleyLewis [https://linktr.ee/BentleyLewis] Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to AI Leadership 01:38 The Evolution of Recruitment 03:29 The Journey of Bentley Lewis 06:14 Adapting to Remote Work 09:48 The Impact of AI on Recruitment 11:27 Networking in the Age of AI 15:14 The Future of Work and AI 19:40 Navigating Job Market Changes 22:28 Exploring AI Tools and Their Impact 27:10 The Evolution of AI in Business 32:02 Building and Utilizing AI Agents 36:03 Investing in Team Development and Networking 37:32 Three Things Get your copy of the Multiply Method ✖️ It's a FREE roadmap walking you through how to multiply the capabilities of your people and your business with AI. www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap [http://www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap] Connect with Martin: Websites: www.theaileaderlab.com [http://www.theaileaderlab.com] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley [http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley] Subscribe to The Frontier Leader Show wherever you listen to podcasts.

AI for Leadership: You can't Multiply by Zero, with Bob Gentle

AI gives leaders an amplifier they've never had before. The trouble is, an amplifier amplifies whatever's already there. If the messaging is unclear, AI just makes the unclear bit louder. That's where this conversation with Bob Gentle starts, and it's where most of the AI for leadership conversation should probably start too. Bob is a personal brand strategist with almost 20 years in digital marketing. He works with CEOs, boards and senior leaders on building authority that actually converts, and he hosts Building Your Leader Brand, which sits in the global top 2% on ListenNotes. He's also one of the more interesting practitioners I've come across on using AI without losing the human signal. In this episode we get into: ✅ Why courage used to be the currency of thought leadership, and what's quietly replacing it now AI has made content production almost free - ✅ Bob's "you can't multiply by zero" rule, and how it lined up with the AI Maths Framework I've been working on (Division, Subtraction, Addition, Multiplication) ✅ The AI-augmented content workflow Bob has built using Notion, Zapier, Poppy and Claude that protects his voice rather than erasing it ✅ Why discernment is becoming the new premium skill for leaders ✅ The 80% imposter syndrome stat that should probably change how you talk to your senior team ✅ Why your website is almost certainly built for the wrong 1% of visitors ✅ And a CIA quantum entanglement story. Yes, really. The takeaway I came away with: AI is an amplifier. It is not a substitute for the work of being clear about who you are and who you're for. Find Bob's Leader Brand Roadmap at amplifyme.agency/roadmap [http://amplifyme.agency/roadmap], and his podcast Building Your Leader Brand wherever you get yours. For practical resources on AI for leadership, head to theaileaderlab.com [https://www.theaileaderlab.com] Connect with Bob: Website: www.amplifyme.agency [http://www.amplifyme.agency] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgentle/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgentle/] Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Leadership in an AI World 01:37 Understanding Leadership Branding 05:41 The Impact of AI on Leadership and Branding 09:37 Building Trust and Authenticity in Leadership 14:43 Leveraging AI for Enhanced Leadership Communication 21:17 Creating Systems for Efficiency in Leadership Branding 22:52 AI as a Strategic Advisor 25:28 Leveraging Notion for Workflow Management 27:03 The Importance of Clarity in Messaging 28:40 The CIA and the Science of Observation 31:45 Amplification vs. Elimination with AI 35:16 Three Key Takeaways for Business Success _____ Get your copy of the Multiply Method ✖️ It's a FREE roadmap walking you through how to multiply the capabilities of your people and your business with AI. www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap [http://www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap] Connect with Martin: Websites: www.theaileaderlab.com [http://www.theaileaderlab.com] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley [http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley] Subscribe to The Frontier Leader Show wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Frontier Brief - 8th May 2026

Three pieces of AI news from the past month. One uncomfortable pattern underneath all of them. The Frontier Brief is the monthly solo episode of The Frontier Leader Show, where Martin Wheatley filters what's happening in AI down to what actually matters for leaders running real businesses. This month Martin covers: ✳️ OpenAI's AI Jobs Transition Framework, and the gap between theoretical and realised AI exposure across 150 million US jobs ✳️ Anthropic's Economic Index data on the widening gap between practised and casual Claude users ✳️ A Chinese court ruling that signals where the legal line is being drawn on AI-driven redundancy These three signals point at the same problem from different angles. Martin borrows the OpenAI term of "capability overhang": the space between what AI can do and what your people are actually getting out of it. Most businesses have one but few are closing it on purpose. A practical filter on AI adoption, leadership decisions, and where senior leaders should be focusing their attention right now. Useful for CEOs, MDs, and operators of SME businesses navigating AI strategy. Follow The Frontier Leader Show for monthly Frontier Briefs and weekly conversations on leading through AI. _____   Get your copy of the Multiply Method Roadmap [https://www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap] ✖️ It's a FREE roadmap [https://www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap] walking you through how to multiply the capabilities of you people and your business with AI.   www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap [https://www.theaileaderlab.com/roadmap] Connect with Martin: Websites: www.theaileaderlab.com [http://www.theaileaderlab.com] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley [http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinjwheatley]   Please take a second to rate and review this show. ❤️ It will mean a lot to me.